Apple Pay for Transit: Now Accepted in Singapore, NYC Testing Soon, Chicago and Portland to Integrate Fare Cards

Apple Pay is launching or gaining expanded functionality at transit systems in additional cities throughout 2019, starting with Singapore today followed by Chicago, Portland, and New York City later this year.

apple pay transit card
‌Apple Pay‌ is now accepted on all forms of public transit that accept Mastercard credit and debit cards in Singapore, including buses and trains, enabling convenient tap-to-pay functionality with an iPhone or Apple Watch. Singapore's transit agency expects to add support for Visa cards in the second half of 2019.

New York City will pilot ‌Apple Pay‌ on a couple of lines this spring and then roll out the functionality to additional lines throughout the rest of the year, according to TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino. The MTA appears to already be in the process of installing contactless card readers at turnstiles, with a test phase "coming soon."


Chicago's and Portland's transit systems already accept ‌Apple Pay‌, but CTA and TriMet riders will be able to add their preloaded Ventra and Hop fare cards to the Wallet app later this year and take advantage of pre-tax commuter benefits, according to the Chicago Tribune and the Willamette Week.

The payment process is similar to using ‌Apple Pay‌ in stores. Depending on the ‌iPhone‌, that means double-pressing the home button or side button, authenticating with Touch ID or Face ID, and holding the ‌iPhone‌ near the card reader. Apple Watch payments are also activated by double-pressing the side button.

The blog Ata Distance suggests that Ventra and Hop cards will support Express Transit, meaning that riders won't need to authenticate with ‌Face ID‌, ‌Touch ID‌, or a passcode, and won't need to wake or unlock their device, to pay. Express Transit is currently limited to transit systems in China and Japan.

Singapore and New York City would join a handful of cities with transit systems that already support ‌Apple Pay‌, including Chicago and Portland as mentioned, Beijing, Shanghai, London, Tokyo, Moscow, and Vancouver, Canada.

(Thanks, Chris!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

28 years later iphone 1

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Friday May 30, 2025 7:27 am PDT by
Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via IGN). With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone. 28 Years Later is the sequel to "28 Days Later" (2002) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007), which depict the aftermath of a...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
maxresdefault

No iOS 19: Apple Going Straight to iOS 26

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:56 am PDT by
With the design overhaul that's coming this year, Apple plans to rename all of its operating systems, reports Bloomberg. Going forward, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS will be identified by year, rather than by version number. We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. iOS 26 will be accompanied by...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Display Sizes: What to Expect

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:38 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 lineup will include four iPhones, and two of those are going to get all-new display sizes. There's the iPhone 17 Air, which we've heard about several times, but the standard iPhone 17 is also going to have a different display size. We've heard a bit about the updated size before, but with most rumors focusing on the iPhone 17 Air, it's easy to forget. Display analyst Ross...
macOS Tahoe Render

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week

Sunday June 1, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe. Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

6 visionOS-Inspired Design Elements Coming to iOS 26

Friday May 30, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
With iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26, Apple is planning to debut a new design that's been described as taking inspiration from visionOS, the newest operating system. With WWDC coming up soon, we thought we'd take a closer look at visionOS and some of the design details that Apple might adopt based on current rumors and leaked information. 1. Translucency Inside Apple, the iOS 26...
iphone 16 teal

iPhone 17 Base Model Now Said to Feature A18 Chip and 8GB of RAM

Friday May 30, 2025 11:07 am PDT by
The latest rumored specs for the iPhone 17 base model are underwhelming. In a research note with equity research firm GF Securities this month, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said that the lowest-end iPhone 17 model will be equipped with the same A18 chip that is used in the iPhone 16 base model. The chip will continue to be manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, he...

Top Rated Comments

zorinlynx Avatar
81 months ago
"that means double-pressing the home button or side button, authenticating with Touch ID ('https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/touch-id/') or Face ID, and holding the iPhone near the card reader."

This takes too long. I know it seems fast, but I've been in NYC and ridden the subway quite a few times and it's a constant flow of people through the turnstiles, each person swiping their card through as they're walking.

If there's any kind of delay, like having to satisfy FaceID or wait for TouchID, it's going to slow things down and people will get pissed. Nevermind that TouchID doesn't work with gloves on and NYC has winter, and FaceID doesn't always read correctly.

If I were a New Yorker I wouldn't bother with using my phone and just get the Contactless MetroCard equivalent they're no doubt going to offer.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexandr Avatar
81 months ago
"that means double-pressing the home button or side button, authenticating with Touch ID ('https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/touch-id/') or Face ID, and holding the iPhone near the card reader."

This takes too long. I know it seems fast, but I've been in NYC and ridden the subway quite a few times and it's a constant flow of people through the turnstiles, each person swiping their card through as they're walking.

If there's any kind of delay, like having to satisfy FaceID or wait for TouchID, it's going to slow things down and people will get pissed. Nevermind that TouchID doesn't work with gloves on and NYC has winter, and FaceID doesn't always read correctly.

If I were a New Yorker I wouldn't bother with using my phone and just get the Contactless MetroCard equivalent they're no doubt going to offer.
you're overthinking it - almost every day there is some dumbass blocking a turnstile while trying to locate his/her metrocard. they will just be replaced by the dumbasses who fail to unlock their phone prior to reaching the turnstile.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kybldmstr Avatar
81 months ago
I would hope you wouldn't need to authenticate to get it to work. Would be alot easier if you just hold phone to reader, phone realizes it's a subway terminal and loads that specific card, and boom you're in. I could see alot of people fumbling around getting the right pass up on their phones, standing there authenticating with FaceID, then scanning, and causing a backup. IMO the ticket wouldn't really need to be secured behind FaceID and should pop up automatically when presented at a subway terminal.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AdonisSMU Avatar
81 months ago
"that means double-pressing the home button or side button, authenticating with Touch ID ('https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/touch-id/') or Face ID, and holding the iPhone near the card reader."

This takes too long. I know it seems fast, but I've been in NYC and ridden the subway quite a few times and it's a constant flow of people through the turnstiles, each person swiping their card through as they're walking.

If there's any kind of delay, like having to satisfy FaceID or wait for TouchID, it's going to slow things down and people will get pissed. Nevermind that TouchID doesn't work with gloves on and NYC has winter, and FaceID doesn't always read correctly.

If I were a New Yorker I wouldn't bother with using my phone and just get the Contactless MetroCard equivalent they're no doubt going to offer.
You could prepare it as you are walking up like before you get there. Then just hold it up there.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
81 months ago
You have a minute leeway from activating Apple Pay until it times out; so, by rights, no one should be fumbling around at the point of touching in/out to ride transit.

Samsung Pay have the option to set up a ‘transport card’ without the need to use biometric authorisation so I hope, in time, Apple follow suit.
Apple doesn't need to follow suit. It already has Apple Pay Transit Card feature in China and Japan long time ago.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4254126 Avatar
81 months ago
London really needs Oyster card integration in Apple Wallet (for season passes).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)